TMUS Unveils ‘Jump’ Plan for Twice-Yearly Smartphone Upgrades

By Tiernan Ray

I’m at a loft space on way west 36th Street in Manhattan, Skylight West, where press are assembling for a media event hosted by T-Mobile USA (TMUS). The Stones’s “Gimme Shelter” is playing.

The Verge‘s Chris Zieglerhas written that T-Mobile may unveil a plan to let customers upgrade their smartphone whenever they like, as often as they like, at the same price for the phone as newly arriving customers pay.

An indeed, as we’re sitting here, T-Mobile just issued a press release saying they will offer “Jump,” a plan to let people upgrade their phones twice a year:

JUMP!: A radical new program that allows T-Mobile customers to upgrade their phones when they want, up to twice per year. The program also includes total protection against device malfunction, damage, loss or theft – all for just $10 per month.

A brief video about how T-Mobile is making changes, featuring “real customers.” And now CEO John Legere comes up on stage. He says he’s going to try not to be an analyst and focus on the August 8th financial results. Instead, he wants to talk about conversations back at CES in January. There is a feeling that people “absolutely hate” the industry, meaning cellular.

“The biggest pain points for customers” are what the company wants to solve. He thinks it’s stunning that this is the only industry where that approach is unique.

He uses a collection of four children’s dolls on stage as a prop to pose ridiculous questions. “Hey, Billy, do you really want your LTE network to be crap?”

The concept of “no contract” has become, he argues “viral” in its popularity. So far, the company has thrown out annual service contracts, he asserts. “If you want to say there’s still an underlying contract, go ahead; it’s bullshit,” says Legere.

He mentions a piece of writing that was “garbage” published yesterday saying the company was losing share. Such claims make no sense, he thinks.

Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone is a “great device,” he says, but it’s not the whole story” of the company’s success, he insists. “No contract is huge, and will be huge,” he says. “Customers love the un-carrier.”

“We are going to redefine a stupid, broken, arrogant industry,” says Legere. “Here’s the shock: we’re listening to the customer. They’re coming to is in droves.”

Store traffic, he says, has doubled for T-Mobile retail, and so have credit applications.

T-Mobile is now the number one new net addition customer for New York City based on industry data for May, he says. He says Sprint-Nextel (S) and Verizon Communications (VZ) and AT&T all came in below T-Mobile’s 56,000 net adds in May in New York.

The company, says Legere, “loves fighting these big guys,” says Legere. He says he’s given every store rep shares of T-Mobile stock based on the $16.50 price on the first day of trading of TMUS, May 1st.

Legere brings up CTO Neville Ray to the stage to talk about the network. He says there’s a lot of noise about “long term evolution,” or LTE broadband service. The other guys, he says, have been working on it for a couple of years now. “Little old T-Mobile,” he says, has “smashed” its goal of getting 100 million “POPs” coveted with LTE, with 157 million covered as of July 1st.

Today, the company is launching the new LTE markets. He wants to bring up a special guest, the “T-Mobile Girl” from the commercials, Carly Foulkes. Foulkes hops on stage in her trademark leather jumpsuit.

There’s a brief video behind her with names of cities flashing by, pounding music, and then that’s it and Foulkes is off stage.

The company is now in 73 of the top 100 markets, he says. That compares to Sprint in just 22 cities, he says.

T-Mobile will hit its goal of covering 200 million POPs before the end of this year, says Ray.

Correction: A prior version of this post incorrectly named the venue of the T-Mobile event. It was at Skylight West. My apologies for any confusion caused by the error.

Add a Comment

We welcome thoughtful comments from readers. Please comply with our guidelines. Our blogs do not require the use of your real name.

Comment

There is 1 comment

JULY 22, 2014 1:46 P.M.

http://sport-guru.pl//wp-content/gallery/nela/thumb.php?p=291 wrote:

I am an active girl and I am always doing Some kind of physical activity. There are days That I will run, swim, do aerobics dance (Zumba), hike and of course I love to go to the gym. Because of my own activity level, I needed a sneaker That Would Be Able to Deliver the Performance That Is Necessary. I have quite a pair on sneakers in my life and I have always found That Nike is ble to Deliver That Perfect quality That I am looking for a. As Such, I needed to check out sneaker All which I would be wearing for the next couples of months. In my research, I came across the new Nike Move Fit. This is a sneaker That I Have That I love, Because it is simply ble to Provide everything That I need, plus more.

About Tech Trader Daily

Tech Trader Daily is a blog on technology investing written by Barron’s veteran Tiernan Ray. The blog provides news, analysis and original reporting on events important to investors in software, hardware, the Internet, telecommunications and related fields. Comments and tips can be sent to: techtraderdaily@barrons.com.